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Chris Gayle has been handed the captaincy of West Indies for their limited-overs series in England and Ireland after the WICB ratified the selection panel's decision to give Gayle the captaincy. He will lead a 14-man squad that does not include the fast bowlers Corey Collymore and Jerome Taylor, who both played at the World Cup in the Caribbean but have not performed as expected during the current test series against England.

Leeward Islands batsman Austin Richards has received his first international call-up and along with Lendl Simmons and Dwayne Smith,who keep there places after the World Cup and will join up with the squad after the fourth Test at Chester-le-Street. Richards, 23, is a left-hand batsman from Antigua who has a modest domestic one-day record but impressed in his two first-class outings in 2006-07, making 183 for Leeward Islands against Windward Islands.

Daren Ganga, West Indies' stand-in Test captain, was not included in the one-day outfit and will depart after the Chester-le-Street Test, along with batsman Sylvester Joseph. The appointment of Gayle as the limited-overs leader came after reports that the West Indies Cricket Board executive committee wanted Ganga to take the helm of the one-day side, even though he had played only seven ODIs in nearly five years. The committee did not want Gayle in charge on the grounds of indiscipline.

However, the board has ignored the committee's request and Gayle will lead the squad, supported by Shivnarine Chanderpaul who is named as his vice-captain. Gayle has captained West Indies once before, in a 20-run loss to India at Cuttack in January.

The squad's first challenge is two Twenty20 games against England at The Oval, followed by three one-day matches between the two sides in the first week of July. West Indies then depart for Ireland, where they will take part in a four-nation tournament that features Netherlands, Scotland and Ireland.